The Attempt- LR
by Cearta Day
Summary: This was my original first chapter for my 02 remake which I ended up redoing but would feel like a coward if I deleted from this site PLEASE READ LEGENDS REVEALED AND NOT THIS


A/N: Whether it's an actually written out AU or just a few scenes you rewrote in your head, we were all disappointed in 02 enough to change some of it. Here's my take on what could have been. I've made a lot of changes not necessarily because the original did it poorly but because I don't want to write practically the same story. I tried to put my own spin on things. (p.s. We are just going to pretend Gatomon is a child level digimon and not a champion.)

**SUMMARY:** Legend tells of six warriors sent from another realm to vanquish the powers that enslave us.

This is not that story. This was not a fairy tale where the heroes walked in, slayed the dragon, and went home to a glorious feast. In fact, they were lucky to make it back for dinner. These six were young, rebellious, ill prepared, and overwhelmed. So to put it shortly, they were just kids.

And when you put the weight of a world on kids, they'll either drop it or crack under the pressure. Don't think for a second that these chosen are an exception. No matter what they would want you to believe, they cracked, they shattered, and it was up to them to put each other back together. I bring you the unedited, uncensored truth that will forever change your perspective on the name 02.

* * *

**Episode 1: Pilot**

_"But I still don't understand. Why would you do it?"_

_He gulped and focused his eyes on the room's sole light source, a narrow window with a curtain lazily pulled to the side. "We all wanted to be someone. We all wanted… to matter."_

_The reporter didn't even pretend to jot down TK's words. "You didn't matter before? You'd already saved the world once."_

_"No one knew it was us. A couple did, but they forgot soon enough. We made the local news while the digimon went international."_

_"Mr. Takaishi, why don't you start at the beginning?" He asked. "The digimon sightings began last summer."_

_"For whatever reason," TK said, "The gates to the Digital World reopened at the beginning of last summer. Any computer could be turned into a portal, but only five of us could get through. We used to go there just for fun until we ran into some trouble."_

* * *

The grassy landscape below rushed by as TK went racing through the woods on the back of Angemon. His partner expertly weaved by each tree with the occasional thump of a branch to let TK know that these woods were too narrow for his large digimon. The air rushing passed them had caused him to lose his bucket hat ages ago. From the shadows of the woods, they spotted a light just beyond and TK urged Angemon to rush toward it. They came to a screeching halt in a field, and only moments after he dismounted, Davis came speeding out of the woods on the back of Exveemon.

"You've got to be kidding me!" He said. He patted his digimon on the back before grumpily sliding off him.

"I warned you not to race us," TK said.

"You warn me not to do a lot of things I can."

"Like scale Myotismon's abandoned tower?"

Davis shook his head. "You fall off the side of a tower once, and no one lets you forget it!"

They went over to the three other children and their digimon and took a seat on either side of Kari. Each grabbed a sandwich from the center of the circle. Yolei was rambling on about some technological development that Kari and Cody weren't as enthusiastic about.

"I've been thinking," Cody said in an attempt to change the subject.

"What a shocker," Davis muttered and snatched up a second sandwich.

"You're just upset you lost the race," Kari said. She stuck her tongue out at Davis who promptly returned the gesture. "What's up, Cody?"

"The Digital World doesn't smell like anything. Isn't that weird?"

"It'd be weird if it did smell like something. It's made from pixels and old computer data, right?" Yolei looked to TK for confirmation. He shrugged.

"You would think, but nothing around here likes to make sense."

"Gennai once said it was powered by the crests," Kari said. "It's more than computer data; there's some magic involved."

"Magic isn't real," Yolei said.

Davis rolled his eyes causing his entire body to sway backward. "You're having lunch in another world with a pink fluff ball that can transform into a giant bird-beast. Are you seriously doubting magic right now?"

The mention of her partner made Yolei look down to check on him. He had already eaten most of her sandwich and she snatched the remainder of her lunch back from him.

TK said, "I'm not sure if it's magic, but this world doesn't work like ours. It has different rules."

"Yeah, stuff appears out of nowhere," Yolei said. "Like that scary tower."

"I- wait what?"

Yolei nodded. She took a bite of her sandwich and continued to explain. "Some creepy looking tower is hovering over the ocean. I tried to get closer, but there's some sort of darkness surrounding it."

"Darkness like you couldn't see?" Cody asked.

"Darkness like it felt like my life force was getting sucked out of me."

"Oh, fun."

Kari said to TK, "Maybe we need to check it out?"

"Not without the rest of us!" Davis said.

TK and Kari exchanged looks. TK said, "It's just that none of you have had to deal with anything dangerous."

"There's a first time for everything!" Yolei said.

"I fell off a tower once. That was dangerous," Davis said.

"Just let them go," Gatomon said from her spot just outside the circle. "But all of you better listen to TK. He's in charge."

"Me?" TK asked.

Gatomon arched her back then shuffled into a sitting position. "Yes, you now let's get going before I fall into another catnap."

* * *

Ken turned back and forth lazily in his chair while speaking to the man displayed on the large screen above him. "I'll have you know that my base is the ultimate protection for your little portal."

The man grimaced and his greasy hair fell into his face. "I'll believe that when you actually have some opposition."

"Which I won't." Ken picked at the loose thread on the end of his sleeve and sighed. "Look, I know you're just afraid that Gennai's gonna hire some gang of ten year olds to do me in, but I built this whole base and no one's showed up."

Wormmon crawled up to Ken and tugged lightly on the cloak that was draped by his feet. "Master, there are other children here to see you."

"…What?"

Wormmon nodded. He hopped onto Ken's control panel and switched all the screens besides the one with the man to show the outside of the base where five teens atop three flying digimon loitered.

Ken smirked. "Well isn't that convenient. Gotta go!" He shut off the screen with the man before he had a chance to protest. "What a good opportunity to prove him wrong."

Wormmon looked up at Ken. "Do you need me to come, Master?"

"No, why would I? I've got a Tyrannomon stationed in the west wing."

"Of course, Master." Wormmon bowed and Ken went to greet his new visitors.

* * *

"You can actually _feel_ the evil."

Before the five, a black, metal station floated feet above the ocean water. It was large and clunky with no visible entrances. The closer they got, the more an unsettling feeling came over them. The feeling was akin to one being trapped in a fog with growing discomfort the longer it took to escape. It was a constant pulse.

"That's strange," Kari said. "This reminds me of something."

"How is it floating?" Yolei asked. She and Halsemon flew farther down, but she saw nothing connected to the bottom of the structure. "Oh that creepy, crawly evil feeling? _Really_ concentrated down here."

A loud roar came from the structure. One of the metal panels slid back revealing a Tyrannomon standing at the edge with a long hallway stretched back behind him. He threw his head back, took a deep breath, and began launching fire balls at the flying digimon.

"Hold on!" Angemon called to TK, Cody, and Armadillomon who balanced on his shoulders. Unable to set them down, Angemon maneuvered around them to pull out his rod and fling it at the Tyrannomon. The rod hit his arm then went shooting down the hallway. The digimon wobbled on the edge but regained his balance just in time to avoid two beams of energy from Aquilamon.

"We're a minute into a fight and you've already lost your rod," Angewomon said.

"It's coming back," Angemon grunted while maneuvering around several fireballs.

Angewomon hit Tyrannomon directly with her celestial beam. He let loose a massive roar, and a black sludge came shooting out of his mouth.

"Gross," Veemon said.

Kari gasped. "It's dark energy! But how…?"

The wave of energy fanned out and shook all five digimon. It wasn't particularly damaging but left them feeling a bit heavier and slowed down.

Tyrannomon was bent over. He appeared weaker now that the dark energy had been released. Angemon's rod returned and rammed Tyrannomon in the back before returning to Angemon. This was enough to knock the digimon off of the edge of the structure and into the water.

"Told you it would come back," Angemon said spinning his rod back into its holder.

In the place where Tyrannomon had stood, a teenager appeared with bushy blue hair and yellow sunglasses. He clapped in a slow, condescending manner.

"Very nice," he said. "Not quite in shape to fight, are we?"

"Who are you?" TK asked boldly.

Ken tilted his head back. "Let's go with… Digimon _Kaiser_."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Yolei muttered.

"And," Ken continued, "I'd suggest you beat it before I have to bring in another digimon to fight you."

"Bring it on! Let's fight on land so my digimon can actually see some action!" Davis yelled while pumping a fist in the air.

"Don't provoke him," Kari whispered to him then she said to the Kaiser, "You won't attack us if we aren't near your base?"

Ken stood up straighter in an attempt to look assertive. "Probably not."

She nodded. "Let's go then." Angewomon turned around and started flying away. Aquilamon and Angemon followed. They knew nothing about this kid, and there was no need to rush into confrontation when three out of five had never been in a real fight.

As they flew back to land, Cody spoke quietly to TK, "So is that digimon that fell in the water dead?"

TK faltered. "He… I don't know. He was attacking us, Cody. There wasn't much else we could do."

"But that boy was making him do it, wasn't he?"

"Maybe." Once they reached the shore, TK dismounted Angemon and patted his younger friend on the shoulder. "I'll let you in on a secret: Digimon don't really die."

"They don't?"

TK shook his head. "They come back as eggs. Remember the village you found Armadillomon in? It was full of eggs!"

Cody mulled it over then nodded.

Aquilamon and Angemon dedigivolved. Angewomon followed suit causing Veemon to topple off her back. Davis collected his partner in his arms.

"So what are we doing about Stupid Hair McSnob?" he asked.

"You're one to talk about people's hair," Yolei said.

"My hair is wonderful! What's wrong with it?" He asked Veemon.

The digimon smiled apologetically. "It slightly resembles a hedgehog."

The others laughed, and Veemon patted his partner's arm in reassurance.

"I think we need to deal with that fellow toot sweet," Hawkmon said. "Nothing good can come from a place surrounded with so much…"—He shivered.

"But is he doing anything wrong?" Patamon asked from atop TK's head. "He attacked us because he thought we were attacking him."

Armadillomon agreed, "He could be visiting the Digital World just like us."

Yolei said, "He's spending time in a vortex of darkness and he called himself a kaiser. That's suspicious."

"Yeah!" Davis said. "What's a Kaiser?"

"We can worry about him later," Kari said. "It's getting dark. We need to head home."

TK frowned. "And just leave this place unattended?"

"I'm more concerned about all of you," she said. "Yolei has to work in her parent's shop tomorrow morning, Davis has soccer tryouts for the high school team, and you're moving."

"Oh so tomorrow's the day, Blondie?" Davis asked. He made no attempts to hide his annoyance with TK moving to Odaiba to live with his dad. It was bad enough he had to share his best friend Kari with him in the Digital World. Now the trio would be stuck together all of freshman year.

TK gave an absentminded nod, mind now focused on the conversation he was bound to have with his mom when he got home where she made passive-aggressive remarks about his dad then scolded him for not packing. Unlike his brother, he really did appreciate both of his parents just not when they were forced to interact with each other.

"I still think your logic is faulty," Yolei said. "You're moving in with your dad to keep track of the recent digimon sightings in Odaiba yet you fail to tell him you've been coming to the Digital World all summer."

"As far as we know," TK said, "we and that other kid are the only ones able to open gates between the worlds. Until I see a digimon do that on their own, I'm chalking up the sightings to the paranoid people always feeding stories to the TV station."

Hawkmon said, "They can't be that paranoid if your father's making you come to Odaiba."

In all actuality, when his dad suggested it TK didn't see coming to Odaiba as much of a sacrifice. He was a friendly kid who could make friends with almost anyone, but he never felt close to anyone but other Chosen Children. The bond the Digital World provided was just one no one could compete with, and he wouldn't mind a chance to spend more time with the other Chosen.

"Everyone's ready then?" Yolei asked. There were nods all around, and each one pressed a few button on their d-terminal. The d-terminals all projected a green-tinted swirling portal. With a few quick goodbyes to their digimon, they entered their own portals that would take them home to the computer they had entered the Digital World with a few hours earlier.

* * *

Kari had offered to come watch the tryouts, but Davis told her she didn't have to because his dad was going. In other words, he didn't feel like having his friend around to hear his dad yelling at him.

The tryouts were going much better than terribly. Davis was easily the most impressive freshman out there, but he still made a few fumbles and was nowhere near the fastest. He had always valued strength over speed; his father however seemed to value whichever skill Davis was lacking. His dad had arrived toward the end. He'd skipped his lunch break to come which would be kind and all if his presence alone didn't make Davis want to run off the field.

"Line up! Head butts!" The coach blew his whistle and all the boys rushed to get in line. Having been across the field, Davis was the last to get there. He glanced at his father wondering if being last in line was a good enough reason for him to get mad.

He wonders when exactly soccer went from an afterschool activity to the epitome of his father's affection. He used to use it to blow off steam, and he really loved soccer. He still loved soccer; it was all he thought he was good at really.

"Motomiya, pay attention!"

A ball went sailing toward his head and instead of forcing it up, Davis whipped his head at the mention of his name causing the ball to go sailing down field.

That is, he was good when he wasn't distracted because his father was watching and metaphorically breathing down his neck. He ran to get the ball and get back in line. His next two head butts were adequate, but his nerves were getting the best of him now that he'd messed up once.

Before he knew it, the coach blew the whistle and try outs had finished for the day. Glancing at his clip board, Davis could see he already had a lot of names completely scratched out and others had a lot of notes beneath them.

He saw his father stand up and start making his way down the bleachers. A few other people had come to watch too and were already yelling good jobs at the player they had come for. Davis took a deep breath and went over to his dad.

"Akira Akimoto."

"Huh?"

"He's the fastest freshman and he's faster than you."

"I mean, he was faster than a lot of the older kids too," Davis said keeping his gaze on his torn up cleats.

"Then you should be too," Mr. Motomiya said. He placed a hand on Davis's shoulder. "You weren't bad. Just keep working. We'll discuss your technique at dinner."

Davis nodded curtly. That wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to. "Would it be alright if I went to the Kamiya's for dinner?"

* * *

"There is absolutely no way I'm spending every day crammed into a stuffy back room at the station watching security footage just because some attention whore thinks she saw a digimon."

Of course, it would be too much to ask for both brothers to be happy about something.

"Neither of you are quite grasping the gravity of this situation," Mr. Ishida said. He pressed a button on the elevator causing it to lurch up before falling downward. "After The Incident seven years ago, everyone in the city has been terrified. The population dropped, the police force tripled, people were demanding answers, it was a wonder we could keep you kids away from the media. People are finally starting to forget then all these sightings and really suspicious footage have appeared out of nowhere! If there is even a chance they could be hanging around we need to nip it in the butt now."

"Are you ever not going refer to it as 'The Incident'?" Matt asked.

"Why do you always call digimon 'they'?" TK asked.

"Still not the point…"

"Look, Dad, I get it," Matt said, "It's just my post high school plans weren't to waste away at Odaiba Community College with Tai."

"Tai is your best friend."

"_Tai_ is going to eat this digimon shit up and want to spend every day crammed in the stuffy back room with me because he'll be deluded and think he'll see Agumon."

"You wouldn't want to see Gabumon?" TK asked.

Matt's face softened at the mention of his partner's name. "That's not what I'm saying. It's just… two weeks ago I was going across the country to a renowned music school, and now I'm stuck in Odaiba until the end of the year."

"I know this isn't ideal," Mr. Ishida said. "But I really need you boys to help me out. Plus I'm paying you so consider this a resume builder."

They exited the elevator on the second to last floor, right at ground level. Mr. Ishida led them to a storage room in back of the building. Inside there were tons of cardboard boxes stacked against the wall and a long desk with three swivel chairs in front of it. On the desk were a couple piles of VHS tapes that extended practically up to the ceiling. An ancient television sat on the desk, and three other screens were placed along the wall.

"Glamorous," Matt muttered.

"I thought this room would be better because you can come and go as you please," Mr. Ishida explained. "There's a door right there that leads to the back parking lot, and I'll give both of you a set of keys for it." He took a remote off the desk and turned on the three overhead TVs. "These show live footage. We have cameras set up all around the city. Those tapes over there all need to be watched because they have 'sightings' on them.

"Now, Matt, since you have all night classes you can be at the station during the day, and, TK, you can take over after school. If any strange sightings are reported while neither of you are there, we'll get you the tapes so you can look it over the next day. Sound like a plan?"

Matt slumped into a chair with an audible thump. "Are you sure you're not doing all this because you want a promotion or something?"

Within the hour, Mr. Ishida had gone upstairs to work, and Tai and Izzy had arrived. Tai claimed the last available chair and whipped it around sitting so he had his front pressed against the back. This left Izzy to drag over one of the cardboard storage boxes to sit on.

"TK, great to see ya. Matt, congrats on not leaving me," Tai said.

"Like I had a choice."

"I fully sympathize, Matt," Izzy said.

"Yeah, weren't you graduating early?" TK asked.

"Oh yes, but at the last minute my guidance counselor decides to inform me that I haven't met all the requirements."

"You're like three years ahead of me in math," Matt said. "You've done much more than what's required."

The more he thought about it, the more irritated Izzy looked. "I have to take two semesters of gym, speech, personal finance, and a couple other classes that no one needs to actually take to acquire the skill."

"That means your senior year can just be fun! Loosen up a little, Iz."

Shrugging off Tai's suggestion, Izzy took his pineapple laptop out from his backpack and placed it next to the ancient TV. "My parents got me a new laptop as a so-close-to-graduating present, so I think it'd be best to leave my old one here. All the information we've gathered about the Digital World is archived on it, so if you see a digimon you can't identify look it up on here. By the way, can I borrow your digivice, TK?"

"What? Why? I don't have it with me."

Tai asked, "Why not?"

Saving TK from answering, Matt said, "It's been years, Tai. I don't carry around my digivice anymore either."

Tai folded his arms. "It doesn't really take that much effort, and if there are new digimon sightings wouldn't it be good to have it just in case?"

"There aren't any digimon," Matt said. "This city is just crazy."

Izzy typed a code into his laptop. "Look, it doesn't matter whose digivice I have. Tai, give me yours."

TK's hand brushed the digivice in his pocket. Davis, Yolei, and Cody had received a new model of digivice and not long after TK's and Kari's had morphed into the newer model. They knew the original version was unable to open a portal because Kari had tried when Davis presented her with his new one.

"Tai, everyone but you has moved on," Matt said.

Tai glared at him. Matt was brutally honest which Tai often needed but that didn't stop him from taking offense. He argued, "Sora's doing research on digimon with her dad in Kyoto and Izzy's been collecting information on that laptop."

"Izzy's giving up his laptop. It's over, Tai. We don't need the digimon anymore."

After that, Izzy cut in either because he sensed the rising tension or he just really wanted to tell them about the new laptop he just got. Eventually Tai, Matt, and Izzy all had to leave for one reason or another, so TK sent out a message on his d-terminal that the other four could come join him and that food would be much appreciated. Sure enough, they all came and Kari brought a Tupperware container of pasta along with paper plates.

"Your mom didn't make this, did she?" Davis asked.

"I wouldn't wish her cooking on my worst enemy," Kari said.

Yolei was the last to arrive. She came in with a stack of papers that she dropped onto the desk with a loud thump that woke the dozing Davis.

"His name is Ken Ichijouji," she said.

Davis stared wide-eyed at the stack of papers in front of him. "How did you get all this? Hack into the national records? I get you're good with computers but how…?"

"Because this guy is a prodigy. There have been tons of news articles about him. He's 15 and was supposed to head off to college at the end of the summer, but he went missing a month ago."

Cody gasped. "Do you think he's been in the Digital World that whole time?"

"I can't even imagine. How long were you in the Digital World for on your first adventure?"

TK shrugged and sat up so he could better examine the papers. "The worlds' clocks weren't synchronized like they are now, so there was no real way to tell. _Much_ longer than a month though granted we weren't there by choice."

Davis scowled. "What's so bad about his life that he'd run away like that?"

"Isn't that what we do?" Cody asked. The others were taken aback at the question.

"No, we all just hang out together in the Digital World," Yolei said. "We're not avoiding our lives or our families."

Cody kept his gaze on his pasta. He regretted bringing this up. "We eat dinner together a lot."

"That doesn't mean anything," Davis said.

"We could be eating with our families."

"Shut up!"

TK glared at Davis. "Don't yell at him."

"Don't tell me what to do," Davis muttered albeit with a lot less boldness than he had talking to Cody. He stabbed some pasta noodles and twisted them around his fork.

Kari frowned snatching one of the papers and looking it over. "His family must be worried sick about him. Should we tell them?"

"We haven't even told _our_ families about the Digital World," Yolei said.

"Not my decision," Kari said with a pointed look at TK.

"It's not like they're fans of the place," he said. "There's no point in telling them so they can freak out when there's nothing wrong."

"A vortex of darkness is nothing wrong?" Davis asked.

"It's nothing we can't handle"—he sighed—"Look, we don't need the adults stepping in and trying to take over like after the last adventure. We have digivices because we're the ones who know what we're doing. I don't want to be shipped off to America like Mimi and I don't want to have to stop coming here and I don't think I'm the only one who wants that?" A couple nodded but no one spoke. TK focused his attention back on his pasta. "Great, that's decided. Let's drop it."

They ate in silence after that.

* * *

It was well past midnight when Kari got the chance to sneak into her dad's computer room and open a portal. She had no real intentions for this trip; she just thought it would soothe her nerves to see the base and be able to assume the boy inside hadn't been swallowed by his own darkness. Her portal downloaded her on the edge of the land where she found she wasn't alone. TK had his knees pressed up to his chest and sat on the edge of the land where Ken's base could just be seen in the distance.

"TK?"

He turned with a start before realizing it wasn't a dangerous digimon. He smiled. "Wasn't expecting to see you here."

Kari took a seat beside her old friend. She valued her other friends' opinions, but TK was the only other one who was aware of what the Digital World was capable of or what it could produce. "Are you worried about him?"

He shrugged and spoke into his knees. "I'm worried about what he might do."

"The dark energy… it's coming from somewhere within the base."

"Do we need to break in and check it out?" TK asked. Kari was the expert on all things light which in a way made her the expert on all things dark.

She watched the base from a distance expecting at any moment for something to happen, but it looked so calm. It looked like it belonged there floating above the ocean in peace. She said, "He probably ran away from home because he felt like he was alone, but now he's just cooped up in there still alone but surrounded by all this darkness."

"So we can't let this go," TK said. He watched the base with no real desire to go back. He was concerned about the kid on some level but felt much more of a responsibility to keep his friends safe and far away from any sort of darkness.

Kari spoke quietly as though this question had been tugging on her mind for awhile. "I get not telling the adults, but what about the older kids? Or at least our brothers?"

"I doubt Matt wants to know," TK said. "He just wants to get out of here."

"They can choose not to be involved, but shouldn't we give them a choice? Even if they weren't chosen"—she paused—"Do you think they didn't get the new digivice because they weren't supposed to help us?"

TK sighed. "I think they're moving on with their lives, but if Ken becomes any sort of threat the five of us can handle it."

They remained there watching the Kaiser's base for far longer than they should have. It wasn't until the sun began to rise that they decided to abandon their post and return to their lives in the real world.


End file.
